"The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. ”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt

Who's your choice for Mayor in 2015?

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Just in case a rightwinger tries to bullshit you

Hereis the timeline of Hurricane Katrina, courtesy of Matilda and Think Progress:

KATRINA TIMELINEComment on the timeline here. Friday, August 26GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA: [Office of the Governor]GULF COAST STATES REQUEST TROOP ASSISTANCE FROM PENTAGON: At a 9/1 press conference, Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, commander, Joint Task Force Katrina, said that the Gulf States began the process of requesting additional forces on Friday, 8/26. [DOD]Saturday, August 275AM — KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE [CNN]GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA: “I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster.” [Office of the Governor]FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARED, DHS AND FEMA GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY TO RESPOND TO KATRINA: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.” [White House]Sunday, August 282AM – KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]7AM – KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE [CNN]MORNING — LOUISIANA NEWSPAPER SIGNALS LEVEES MAY GIVE: “Forecasters Fear Levees Won’t Hold Katrina”: “Forecasters feared Sunday afternoon that storm driven waters will lap over the New Orleans levees when monster Hurricane Katrina pushes past the Crescent City tomorrow.” [Lafayette Daily Advertiser]9:30 AM — MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES FIRST EVER MANDATORY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS: “We’re facing the storm most of us have feared,” said Nagin. “This is going to be an unprecedented event.” [Times-Picayune]4PM – NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES SPECIAL HURRICANE WARNING: In the event of a category 4 or 5 hit, “Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer. … At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed. … Power outages will last for weeks. … Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards.” [National Weather Service]AFTERNOON — BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center: “‘We were briefing them way before landfall. … It’s not like this was a surprise. We had in the advisories that the levee could be topped.’” [Times-Picayune; St. Petersburg Times]LATE PM – REPORTS OF WATER TOPPLING OVER LEVEE: “Waves crashed atop the exercise path on the Lake Pontchartrain levee in Kenner early Monday as Katrina churned closer.” [Times-Picayune]APPROXIMATELY 30,000 EVACUEES GATHER AT SUPERDOME WITH ROUGHLY 36 HOURS WORTH OF FOOD [Times-Picayune]Monday, August 297AM – KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]8AM – MAYOR NAGIN REPORTS THAT WATER IS FLOWING OVER LEVEE: “I’ve gotten reports this morning that there is already water coming over some of the levee systems. In the lower ninth ward, we’ve had one of our pumping stations to stop operating, so we will have significant flooding, it is just a matter of how much.” [NBC’s “Today Show”]MORNING — BUSH CALLS SECRETARY CHERTOFF TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION: “I spoke to Mike Chertoff today — he’s the head of the Department of Homeland Security. I knew people would want me to discuss this issue [immigration], so we got us an airplane on — a telephone on Air Force One, so I called him. I said, are you working with the governor? He said, you bet we are.” [White House]MORNING – BUSH SHARES BIRTHDAY CAKE PHOTO-OP WITH SEN. JOHN MCCAIN [White House]11AM — BUSH VISITS ARIZONA RESORT TO PROMOTE MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “This new bill I signed says, if you’re a senior and you like the way things are today, you’re in good shape, don’t change. But, by the way, there’s a lot of different options for you. And we’re here to talk about what that means to our seniors.” [White House]LATE MORNING – LEVEE BREACHED: “A large section of the vital 17th Street Canal levee, where it connects to the brand new ‘hurricane proof’ Old Hammond Highway bridge, gave way late Monday morning in Bucktown after Katrina’s fiercest winds were well north.” [Times-Picayune]11:30AM — MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY REQUESTS THAT DHS DISPATCH 1,000 EMPLOYEES TO REGION, GIVES THEM TWO DAYS TO ARRIVE: “Brown’s memo to Chertoff described Katrina as ‘this near catastrophic event’ but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, ‘Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilities.’” [AP]2PM — BUSH TRAVELS TO CALIFORNIA SENIOR CENTER TO DISCUSS MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT: “We’ve got some folks up here who are concerned about their Social Security or Medicare. Joan Geist is with us. … I could tell — she was looking at me when I first walked in the room to meet her, she was wondering whether or not old George W. is going to take away her Social Security check.” [White House]9PM — RUMSFELD ATTENDS SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL GAME: Rumsfeld “joined Padres President John Moores in the owner’s box…at Petco Park.” [Editor & Publisher]Tuesday, August 309AM – BUSH SPEAKS ON IRAQ AT NAVAL BASE CORONADO [White House]MIDDAY – CHERTOFF FINALLY BECOMES AWARE THAT LEVEE HAS FAILED: “It was on Tuesday that the levee–may have been overnight Monday to Tuesday–that the levee started to break. And it was midday Tuesday that I became aware of the fact that there was no possibility of plugging the gap and that essentially the lake was going to start to drain into the city.” [Meet the Press, 9/4/05]PENTAGON CLAIMS THERE ARE ENOUGH NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS IN REGION: “Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the states have adequate National Guard units to handle the hurricane needs.” [WWL-TV]MASS LOOTING REPORTED, SECURITY SHORTAGE CITED: “The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked,” Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson said. “We’re using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue while we still have people on rooftops.” [AP]U.S.S. BATAAN SITS OFF SHORE, VIRTUALLY UNUSED: “The USS Bataan, a 844-foot ship designed to dispatch Marines in amphibious assaults, has helicopters, doctors, hospital beds, food and water. It also can make its own water, up to 100,000 gallons a day. And it just happened to be in the Gulf of Mexico when Katrina came roaring ashore. The Bataan rode out the storm and then followed it toward shore, awaiting relief orders. Helicopter pilots flying from its deck were some of the first to begin plucking stranded New Orleans residents. But now the Bataan’s hospital facilities, including six operating rooms and beds for 600 patients, are empty.” [Chicago Tribune]3PM – PRESIDENT BUSH PLAYS GUITAR WITH COUNTRY SINGER MARK WILLIS [AP]BUSH RETURNS TO CRAWFORD FOR FINAL NIGHT OF VACATION [AP]Wednesday, August 31TENS OF THOUSANDS TRAPPED IN SUPERDOME; CONDITIONS DETERIORATE: “A 2-year-old girl slept in a pool of urine. Crack vials littered a restroom. Blood stained the walls next to vending machines smashed by teenagers. ‘We pee on the floor. We are like animals,’ said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. … By Wednesday, it had degenerated into horror. … At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for. There is no sanitation. The stench is overwhelming.”" [Los Angeles Times, 9/1/05]PRESIDENT BUSH FINALLY ORGANIZES TASK FORCE TO COORDINATE FEDERAL RESPONSE: Bush says on Tuesday he will “fly to Washington to begin work…with a task force that will coordinate the work of 14 federal agencies involved in the relief effort.” [,%208/31/05]JEFFERSON%20PARISH%20EMERGENCY%20DIRECTOR%20SAYS%20FOOD%20AND%20WATER%20SUPPLY%20GONE:%20“Director%20Walter%20Maestri:%20FEMA%20and%20national%20agencies%20not%20delivering%20the%20help%20nearly%20as%20fast%20as%20it%20is%20needed.”%20[WWL-TV]80,000 BELIEVED STRANDED IN NEW ORLEANS: Former Mayor Sidney Barthelemy “estimated 80,000 were trapped in the flooded city and urged President Bush to send more troops.” [Reuters]3,000 STRANDED AT CONVENTION CENTER WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER: “With 3,000 or more evacuees stranded at the convention center — and with no apparent contingency plan or authority to deal with them — collecting a body was no one’s priority. … Some had been at the convention center since Tuesday morning but had received no food, water or instructions.” [Times-Picayune]5PM — BUSH GIVES FIRST MAJOR ADDRESS ON KATRINA: “Nothing about the president’s demeanor… — which seemed casual to the point of carelessness — suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis.” [New York Times]8:00PM – CONDOLEEZZA RICE TAKES IN A BROADWAY SHOW: “On Wednesday night, Secretary Rice was booed by some audience members at ‘Spamalot!, the Monty Python musical at the Shubert, when the lights went up after the performance.” [New York Post, 9/2/05]9PM — FEMA DIRECTOR BROWN CLAIMS SURPRISE OVER SIZE OF STORM: “I must say, this storm is much much bigger than anyone expected.” [CNN]Thursday, September 18AM — BUSH CLAIMS NO ONE EXPECTED LEVEES TO BREAK: “I don’t think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.” [Washington Post]CONDOLEEZZA RICE VISITS U.S. OPEN: “Rice, [in New York] on three days’ vacation to shop and see the U.S. Open, hitting some balls with retired champ Monica Seles at the Indoor Tennis Club at Grand Central.” [New York Post]STILL NO COMMAND AND CONTROL ESTABLISHED: Terry Ebbert, New Orleans Homeland Security Director: “This is a national emergency. This is a national disgrace. FEMA has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can’t bail out the city of New Orleans.” [Fox News]2PM — MAYOR NAGIN ISSUES “DESPERATE SOS” TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: “This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the convention centre and don’t anticipate enough buses. We need buses. Currently the convention centre is unsanitary and unsafe and we’re running out of supplies.” [Guardian, 9/2/05]2PM — MICHAEL BROWN CLAIMS NOT TO HAVE HEARD OF REPORTS OF VIOLENCE: “I’ve had no reports of unrest, if the connotation of the word unrest means that people are beginning to riot, or you know, they’re banging on walls and screaming and hollering or burning tires or whatever. I’ve had no reports of that.” [CNN]NEW ORLEANS “DESCEND[S] INTO ANARCHY”: “Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. ‘This is a desperate SOS,’ the mayor said.” [AP]CONDOLEEZZA RICE GOES SHOE SHOPPING: “Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, ‘How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!’” [Gawker]MICHAEL BROWN FINALLY LEARNS OF EVACUEES IN CONVENTION CENTER: “We learned about that (Thursday), so I have directed that we have all available resources to get that convention center to make sure that they have the food and water and medical care that they need.” [CNN]Friday, September 2ROVE-LED CAMPAIGN TO BLAME LOCAL OFFICIALS BEGINS: “Under the command of President Bush’s two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” President Bush’s comments from the Rose Garden Friday morning formed “the start of this campaign.” [New York Times, 9/5/05]9:35AM — BUSH PRAISES MICHAEL BROWN: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” [White House, 9/2/05]10 AM — PRESIDENT BUSH STAGES PHOTO-OP “BRIEFING”: Coast Guard helicopters and crew diverted to act as backdrop for President Bush’s photo-op.BUSH VISIT GROUNDS FOOD AID: “Three tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.” [Times-Picayune]LEVEE REPAIR WORK ORCHESTRATED FOR PRESIDENT’S VISIT: Sen. Mary Landrieu, 9/3: “Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment.” [Sen. Mary Landrieu]BUSH USES 50 FIREFIGHTERS AS PROPS IN DISASTER AREA PHOTO-OP: A group of 1,000 firefighters convened in Atlanta to volunteer with the Katrina relief efforts. Of those, “a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew’s first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.” [Salt Lake Tribune; Reuters]3PM — BUSH “SATISFIED WITH THE RESPONSE”: “I am satisfied with the response. I am not satisfied with all the results.” [AP] Saturday, September 3SENIOR BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL LIES TO WASHINGTON POST, CLAIMS GOV. BLANCO NEVER DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY: The Post reported in their Sunday edition “As of Saturday, Blanco still had not declared a state of emergency, the senior Bush official said.” They were forced to issue a correction hours later. [Washington Post, 9/4/05]9AM — BUSH BLAMES STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS: “[T]he magnitude of responding to a crisis over a disaster area that is larger than the size of Great Britain has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities. The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need.” [White House, 9/3/05]

This is great Steve! I have some right wing friends that I will forward this to. Of course, I've been harping on the idiot Governor of Mississippi who is now the Administration's chief cheerleader in the affected area. I wonder what his timeline was? I think he dropped the ball but I am trying to trace his actions. With limited time I would appreciate any assistance from anyone out there.

Thanks for posting this, Steve. I had read it on ThinkProgress and sent it to others but the more distribution it gets, the better. They did leave out the part about Al Gore taking a couple planes down to evacuate some hospital patients, but he wasn't allowed in either (by FEMA).

with all due respect, while there's blame to be spread around, the fact is that the mayor and the governor of lousiana deserve a lot more of the blame for what went wrong in new orleans than the federal government.

after the near miss they had with hurricane ivan last year, you'd think the local officials charged with the responsibility of evacuating the city would be concerned about how to get the poor and those in need of assistance out of the city.

their own emergency evacuation plan spells this out quite clearly, yet they failed to follow their own emergency evacuation plan.

City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan

http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26

in the plan - which is still on they city website - it is stated that: "The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane. . . .The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. . . . . .Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance"

while the mayor should be given credit for convincing as many people to leave as he did, he also directed the rest to the superdome even though his administration had made absolutely no arrangements for food, water, security or sanitation.

A year ago new orleans was almost hit by Hurrican Ivan. At that time an evacuation was ordered but, again, the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. luckily, the hurricane did not hit new orleans that time. in response, both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan.

why didn't the mayor use the hundreds of available school buses to evacuate the superdome? during his interview on WWL in which he essentially lost it, one little comment went unnoticed. per the mayor "I need 500 buses, man. . .One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here. . .. I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."

to me, with a hurricane on your doorstep you have to work with what you've got.

in 1998 when 14,000 people were sent to the superdome as Hurricane George approached, theft and vandalism were rampant then due to inadequate security but, again, these problems were not corrected.

the astrodome in texas is always stocked with supplies in the event that a hurricane hits the texas coast; why weren't the local officials in new orleans prepared for this? it is not as if hurricanes are rare in the gulf of mexico. it's not as if hurricane ivan didn't almost score a direct hit just last year. it's not as if they haven't had past problems with food, sanitation and security in the superdome.

new orleans is a city that is right by the ocean and below sea level; shouldn't emergency evacuation plans be something of a priority for local officials? do they bear any responsibility for anything other than showing up and collecting a paycheck?

on august 31, leftwing cracker (a really nice guy i must say) stated, '"First, for the very latest on the New Orleans situation, you can watch WWL-TV on line here; they are on until midnight each night. It provides a sobering perspective on the starkness of their plight. . . .I hope, with all my heart, that city, county, and state officials have plans ready to go for such an event. Just because it hasn't happened in nearly 200 years doesn't mean that it can't happen soon, and we need to be prepared for it."

this was a great observation. "I hope, with all my heart, that city, county, and state officials have plans ready to go for such an event."

this accurately reflects the fact that "first responders" by definition are local. for the most part, this is the way it's always been.

by thursday, september 1 the headline on the blog was "Want to know what the GOP REALLY thinks of Katrina victims?" rather than "Want to know what city, county and state officials REALLY thinks of Katrina victims".

as noted in the wall street journal, "Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done. In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance."

in spite of claims that violence in new orleans is an "urban myth", police chief edwin compass told NBC's dateline, "We have never had an urban warfare battle like this on any front in the history of our nation. . . .You're fighting in buildings that are pitch black with darkness. These individuals have root - the criminal element have looted all the gun shops and gun stores in this city, so they're armed, they're dangerous."

since several were killed in a shootut with police just a few days ago, this mythological violence is getting out of hand! what are we to believe? i will grant you that, during the emergency there is an element of "the fog of war" and not all claims are true but this is from the police chief.

and what are we to make of this article from todays washington post?

Money Flowed to Questionable ProjectsState Leads in Army Corps Spending, but Millions Had Nothing to Do With Floods

in this article it is stated that: "In Katrina's wake, Louisiana politicians and other critics have complained about paltry funding for the Army Corps in general and Louisiana projects in particular. But over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about $1.9 billion; California was a distant second with less than $1.4 billion, even though its population is more than seven times as large. Much of that Louisiana money was spent to try to keep low-lying New Orleans dry. But hundreds of millions of dollars have gone to unrelated water projects demanded by the state's congressional delegation and approved by the Corps, often after economic analyses that turned out to be inaccurate. Despite a series of independent investigations criticizing Army Corps construction projects as wasteful pork-barrel spending, Louisiana's representatives have kept bringing home the bacon. . . . . .For example, after a $194 million deepening project for the Port of Iberia flunked a Corps cost-benefit analysis, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) tucked language into an emergency Iraq spending bill ordering the agency to redo its calculations. . . . . .The Corps also spends tens of millions of dollars a year dredging little-used waterways such as the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, the Atchafalaya River and the Red River -- now known as the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, in honor of the project's congressional godfather -- for barge traffic that is less than forecast. . . . . .In 1998, the Corps justified its plan to build a new lock -- rather than fix the old lock for a tiny fraction of the cost -- by predicting huge increases in use by barges traveling between the Port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. In fact, barge traffic on the canal had been plummeting since 1994, but the Corps left that data out of its study. . . . . .Administration officials also dramatically scaled back a long-term project to restore Louisiana's disappearing coastal marshes, which once provided a measure of natural hurricane protection for New Orleans. They ordered the Corps to stop work on a $14 billion plan, and devise a $2 billion plan instead. But overall, the Bush administration's funding requests for the key New Orleans flood-control projects for the past five years were slightly higher than the Clinton administration's for its past five years. . . .Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city, since its levees were designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and the levees that failed were already completed projects. Strock has also said that the marsh-restoration project would not have done much to diminish Katrina's storm surge, which passed east of the coastal wetlands. . . . .The Corps had been studying the possibility of upgrading the New Orleans levees for a higher level of protection before Katrina hit, but Woodley said that study would not have been finished for years. Still, liberal bloggers, Democratic politicians and some GOP defenders of the Corps have linked the catastrophe to the underfunding of the agency. . . ."We've been hollering about funding for years, but everyone would say: There goes Louisiana again, asking for more money," said former Democratic senator John Breaux. "We've had some powerful people in powerful places, but we never got what we needed." That may be true. But those powerful people -- including former senators Breaux, Johnston and Russell Long, as well as former House committee chairmen Robert Livingston and W.J. "Billy" Tauzin -- did get quite a bit of what they wanted. And the current delegation -- led by Landrieu and GOP Sen. David Vitter -- has continued that tradition. . . . . . ."We've been hollering about funding for years, but everyone would say: There goes Louisiana again, asking for more money," said former Democratic senator John Breaux. "We've had some powerful people in powerful places, but we never got what we needed." That may be true. But those powerful people -- including former senators Breaux, Johnston and Russell Long, as well as former House committee chairmen Robert Livingston and W.J. "Billy" Tauzin -- did get quite a bit of what they wanted. And the current delegation -- led by Landrieu and GOP Sen. David Vitter -- has continued that tradition. . . . .Louisiana not only leads the nation in overall Corps funding, it places second in new construction -- just behind Florida, home of an $8 billion project to restore the Everglades. . . ."We thought all the projects were important -- not just levees," Breaux said. "Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but navigation projects were critical to our economic survival.". . . . .. .In fact, more than any other federal agency, the Corps is controlled by Congress; its $4.7 billion civil works budget consists almost entirely of "earmarks" inserted by individual legislators.

as for who is responsible for the levee upgrades, moveon.org and some of the victims of hurrican katrina will be marching on the white house to demand "Why Was Federal Funding Cut For Levee Maintenance?"

in all fairness, before left leaning papers such as the new york times were for money being spent on those levees, the new york times was against it, calling the spending a "boondoggle" of "pork".

and that wasn't too long ago. they even criticized the president for spending what was spent on that project which, by the way, wouldn't have been completed for another decade and would have made no difference whatsoever during hurricane Katrina. talk about being damned if you do, damned if you don't!

from the article: "ABSTRACT - Editorial strongly opposes bill that would shovel $17 billion at Army Corps of Engineers for water-related projects including $2.7-billion boondoggle on Mississippi River that has twice flunked inspection by National Academy of Sciences; warns bill would also weaken civilian control over fiercely independent corps that operates in parallel universe, spending billions of dollars on public works projects, often to satisfy Congress's appetite for pork

john breaux even mentions the above fact (that it's often called "pork") in the washington post article.

in 1998 the state government had a $2 billion constuction budget yet they allocated only one tenth of one percent - $1.98 million - to levee improvements in the new orleans area. oh, they did manage to spend $35 million on an expansion of the new orleans convention center.

there's nothing more cynical and opportunistic than politicizing a tragedy of immense proportions while they're still pulling bodies from the rubble. there's probably a good reason why "bearing false withness" ranks right up there with "murder" in terms of seriousness in the ten commandments.

there is also something called "the golden rule" which is found in most major religions, including buddhism...it goes like this: "hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" (UdanaVarga 5:18).

in another she was "for it before she was against it moment" - Hillary Clinton voted to put fema under the homeland security. . .now she feels just the opposite...well, jiminy cricket, can you imagine poor ole bill clinton having to argue with her? "but, hillary, yesterday you said it was okay for me to blah blah blah"...."yeah, well, that was yesterday, this is today!"

with the democratic party controlling the state of lousiana for nearly six decades why does Lousiana Lead in Army Corps Spending while Millions spent Had Nothing to Do With Floods.

of course, in all fairness,there are a lot of important things to spend money on and they aren't prophets who can see the future...but they also shouldn't be casting stones if they live in glass houses.

then there's this little nugget from the September-October 2004 edition of Riverside, the magazine of the New Orleans District Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Office where, in an article by eric lincoln, titled "old plans revived for category 5 hurricane protection" which states: "In 1977, plans for hurricane protection structures at the Rigolets and Chef Menteur Pass were sunk when environmental groups sued the district. They believed that the environmental impact statement did not adequately address several potential problems, including impacts on Lake Pontchartrain’s ecosystem and damage to wetlands"

this is akin to no new refineries being built in the united states for nearly 25 years due primarily to environmental lawsuits, and then those same people complaining about high gas prices.

by launching into it's usual over the top, vindictive attacks on the president, those who support him are given no choice but to address these issues and point out the obvious fact that - if you want to spread blame around - the elected officials in lousiana are just as culpabably negligent as anyone else...most people would say more so.

on a bizarre note, the floods are even being politicized by the usual suspects to attack supreme court nominee john roberts.

moveon.org is making a commercial in which images of hurricane victimes will be used to show how john roberts is insensitive to civil rights and minorities.

in the usa today article on the moveon.org ad, it is stated that, "The ad suggests that the plight of the mostly African-American evacuees in New Orleans showed that poverty remains a serious problem among minorities, said Ben Brandzel, the group's advocacy director. In a mix of judicial and racial politics, the ad then suggests that minorities could suffer if the Senate confirms Roberts. "The connection is obvious," Brandzel said. "The images after Hurricane Katrina show we still live in a society where significant racial inequities exist. We believe John Roberts' record on civil rights ... is clearly not the direction our country needs to head now."

well duh...it's too bad that these inequities exist in a state that has been controlled by the democratic party for decades but you don't see many on the other side of the aisle hysterically calling democrats racists who don't care about minorities becuase it wouldn't be fair to do so by any strecth of the imagination.

but it seems to me that those on the supreme court who voted in favor of letting peoples homes be seized at will thru emminent domain by someone with more money are a tad untrustworthy themselves.

it would be nice if this weren't such a contentious debate but i guess that is the way it is with politics, eh?

"to me, with a hurricane on your doorstep you have to work with what you've got." Didn't Rumsfeld say something like that recently?

In all seriousness, as you are well aware (we have discussed it) pork happens no matter who's in charge of Congress, it's something that no one has been able to solve; it may be a byproduct of representative government.

However, this still smacks of blame the victim. Nagin has said that he does bear part of the responsibility for the situation, and probably so should Blanco. Given the enormity of the situation, only a federal response will do, and the response was slow and muddled.

Clinton had the FEMA purring like a kitten under James Lee Witt; however, the funding was slashed when it was thrown under Homeland Security, where it really doesn't belong.

Add to that the fact that Joe Allbaugh was replaced by someone with no experience in such situations, Mike Brown, and this exacerbated the problems, which were ALREADY catastrophic.

The Mayor of NOLA (without FEMA'S aid) got 800,000 people out of the city at an average speed of 45 mph.

Since NOLA isn't Whoville, and the mayor can't personally run from house to house looking for little Jojos, I'd have to say that's some kind of spectacular work.

Flawed? Yeah, and they knew it was flawed--and FEMA signed off on the flaws.And guess what? The mayor got 800,000 people out BEFORE the storm hit. How long was it AFTER NOLA flooded that the Feds showed up.DAYS I THINK?

Blame? Yeah, it will spread around. But the Governor and the Mayor were WORKING THEIR ASSES OFF. By contrast:

Sorry wingnut assholes when your team is too busy JACKING THE FUCK OFF TO HELP AVOID THE BIGGEST DISASTER IN US HISTORY, it's hard to blame the people who were doing all they could--even if that wasn't good enough.

All you fucktards are really looking, and smelling like fucktards. And guess what? A lot of your previously fucktarded brothers and sisters are changing their song, leaving you to sing alone---- oh, so alone.

"to me, with a hurricane on your doorstep you have to work with what you've got." Didn't Rumsfeld say something like that recently? leftwingcracker

well, that is pretty much the way it is. they had buses...sadly, they didn't use them and a lot of people suffered and i know that we can both agree that none of us want to see anyone suffer like that.

"In all seriousness, as you are well aware (we have discussed it) pork happens no matter who's in charge of Congress, it's something that no one has been able to solve; it may be a byproduct of representative government." leftwingcracker

I agree with you 100% and this would be a great time for a national debate on that very subject. how much money blown elsewhere - like in alaska by certain republicans - could have been better spent somewhere else? to me its unseemly for people who've received millions for levee upgrades to have spent it elsewhere and then blame the federal government.

"However, this still smacks of blame the victim. Nagin has said that he does bear part of the responsibility for the situation, and probably so should Blanco. Given the enormity of the situation, only a federal response will do, and the response was slow and muddled. - leftwingcracker

given the enormity of the disaster i'm not sure any entity could have responded in a way that would make everyone happy. we're talking tens of thousands of square miles of destruction and it wasn't just in new orleans, it was from new orleans all the way down the gulf coast. entire cities have been wiped off of the map. my guess is that it's an overwhelming task and while we should look at the response time, and at what happened, we should do it in a fair way that looks at all of this in the context of an immense natural disaster.

Clinton had the FEMA purring like a kitten under James Lee Witt; however, the funding was slashed when it was thrown under Homeland Security, where it really doesn't belong. - leftwingcracker

Fema didn't do any better under much less taxing conditions when hurricane floyd hit back in 1998. it was the worst storm to hit in 16 years...fema did a great job when it came to hurrican preparation, but it wasn't prepared for the floods that came afterward.

on cnn jesse jackson stated, "It seemed there was preparation for Hurricane Floyd, but then came Flood Floyd. . . .Bridges are overwhelmed, levees are overwhelmed, whole town's under water . . . (it's) an awesome scene of tragedy. So there's a great misery index in North Carolina."

another cnn interviewer - carol lin - asked witt, "I hate to do this to you so early in the morning. . .But I want to show you some video of Hurricane Floyd. This was the evacuation scene out of Florida last year. And you can recall, some three-million people in three different states were hitting the highways, jammed back-to-back trying to get away from the danger. And much of the local as well as the federal government was criticized for this backup. What is being done this year to prevent something like this from happening again, keeping people out of harm's way?"

the AP reported one victim as stating, "I had heard FEMA was going to be downtown, so I got up early to get down there and get in line. . . .The time came and nobody was there, just all these people waiting in line. . . .I had been let down so many times, I just lost it. . . .A friend of mine came walking up, and I just started toward her. She said, 'Robin, what in the world is wrong?' I was just standing there in the middle of the street crying, totally disoriented, practically hysterical."

as noted in the Raleigh's News & Observer noted on Oct. 3, 1999, "We passed hundreds of families sitting outside their now-uninhabitable homes, with their water-soaked possessions spread out on their lawns. . .Desperately picking through the mess for anything to salvage, most people - particularly the elderly - seemed to be in a state of shock. . . .The larger towns had a visible FEMA and Red Cross presence but in smaller towns it looked like utter confusion and despair - no one in charge, no one knowing what to do or where to go for help."

to me, it's a disaster...witt was doing the best he could under trying circumstances and it would have been wrong to badger them while they were in the midst of helping people to the best of their ability. it's easy to be a critic, a monday morning quarterback and an arm chair general because hindisight is 20/20.

Add to that the fact that Joe Allbaugh was replaced by someone with no experience in such situations, Mike Brown, and this exacerbated the problems, which were ALREADY catastrophic. - leftwingcracker

i wouldn't disagree with that! but self interest does seem to be a great motivator with beneficial side effects. i'll have to show you a national geographic article on some kids that spent a summer on a russian farm collective back in the 1970's. __________________________________now i get to that ole peskyfly! __________________________________

The Mayor of NOLA (without FEMA'S aid) got 800,000 people out of the city at an average speed of 45 mph. - peskyfly

like i said, he should be commended for getting as many people to leave as he did. it's hard to convince that many people to leave.....

Since NOLA isn't Whoville, and the mayor can't personally run from house to house looking for little Jojos, I'd have to say that's some kind of spectacular work. - the peskyfly

i wouldn't disagree with that...where he didn't do so great was in following his own emergency evacuation procedure to get those, who could not get out on their on, out of the city. he had buses which he didn't use. the issue came up just last year. this isn't rocket science it's a "get the heck out of dodge issue and you do have to work with what you got and he had hundreds of buses.

Flawed? Yeah, and they knew it was flawed--and FEMA signed off on the flaws.And guess what? The mayor got 800,000 people out BEFORE the storm hit. How long was it AFTER NOLA flooded that the Feds showed up.DAYS I THINK? - the peskyfly

yeah, i pointed out that he should be commended on this from the beginning...

Sorry wingnut assholes when your team is too busy JACKING THE FUCK OFF TO HELP AVOID THE BIGGEST DISASTER IN US HISTORY, it's hard to blame the people who were doing all they could--even if that wasn't good enough. All you fucktards are really looking, and smelling like fucktards. And guess what? A lot of your previously fucktarded brothers and sisters are changing their song, leaving you to sing alone oh, so alone. - the peskyfly

well, that would certainly be the case in this forum where i'm not preaching to the proverbial choir!

and this is considered "reasoned debate" by some? puh-leeze! don't be silly, silly. did my post make a little too much sense or something?

most people are turned off by hysterical over the top rantings like this one, ole peskyfly. this may fly with the howard dean crowd but then they didn't realize that dean had made a major mistake when he told that senior citizen (who had asked him to please quite mean mouthing others) to put a sock in it, sit down and shut up on tv. most deaniacs applauded. a week later it was the iowa caucus that told dean to sit down and shut up.

we can agree to disagree, but it doesn't pay in the long run to be mean, arrogant and smug, and show absolutely no pretense of respect for those with whom we don't agree.

i like diversity. i believe in that ole vulcan priciple of IDIC - Infinite DFiversity in Infinite Combinations...that also includes ideological diversity.

some of my favorite authors are profound lefties. isaac asimov, fredrick pohl, harlan ellison, gene roddenberry are lefties one and all but i have a profound respect for them and their work.

i think that arguments about FDR engaging in underhanded tactics to get america involved in WWII are just as reprehensible as arguments that president bush "lied" about saddam hussein and WMD when the previous adminsitration passed the Iraqi Liberation Act in 1998, and since president clinton said on february 18, 1998 almost exactly what president bush later claimed about saddam hussein, wmd and terrorists.

if the nation ever "collapses into anarchy" it's going to be because people get fed up with those who make have a propensity to reduce every debate to a "All you fucktards are really looking, and smelling like fucktards" argument; you can't reason or even live side by side with someone with an attitude like this, ole peskyfly, because i think you'd just as soon send me to a re-education camp to get my thinking "straightened out" as not. it certainly happened in vietnam after america pulled it's troops out in the 1970's where millions were killed for a "progressive" communist agenda.

rebekkah gleaves had a great article on it in the memphis flyer just this week.

The protests in Crawford overlook what happened in Vietnam.

http://www.memphisflyer.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A10035

in which she points out - "After the war, North Vietnamese forces used firing squads, torture, and concentration camps to punish people believed to have helped us. Between 1975 and 1978, nearly all of the Montagnard tribal leaders were imprisoned or executed. To this day, Montagnards are being tortured and killed by the ruling government. Two million Vietnamese refugees have fled persecution and poverty in their homeland since the U.S. withdrawal. Things were just as bad in neighboring Cambodia, which fell to the Communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. In all, it is estimated that 2.5 million peasants in Vietnam and Cambodia were murdered when the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam."

and people i work with should know this...one of our ex-co-workers family had to leave laos for that very reason.

i know it's fun to be morally indignant all of the time, but it's unfair to always assume that those who aren't like you are "fucktards" not worthy of reasoned debate. i may disagree with those on the left, but i don't despise them the way you seem to despise those you don't agree with.

being a jackass just turns off most people who tend to be fair minded and who don't care for ugly political debate.

take, for example, the reaction to Kayne West, the rapper who said that the president didn't care about black people.

from todays boston globe: ". . . . .while West did one tune, ''Heard 'Em Say." Yet it was disconcerting to hear his name booed loudly by Patriots fans who evidently didn't appreciate his nationally televised comment the other night on a Hurricane Katrina benefit that President Bush ''doesn't care about black people." The boos were thunderous and lasted for much of his number."that pretty much says it all.

oh, and by the way, the red cross arrived at new orleans with food and water the day before the levee broke in new orleans. guess what? local officials wouldn't allow them in. per red cross president marty evans, "We were ready from literally the time the storm blew threw. We were ready to go. We just were not given permission to go in."

the reason? state officials didn't want to encourage people to stay at the superdome...they understandably wanted them to evacuate. it was, in retrospect, a bad decision since they didn't help get those people out of there; the result was the subsequent disaster that the president is being blamed for. does that seem fair in any way whatsoever?

what would have been the reaction had the president flown right on in, saying, "gee, these democrats can't handle this, i gotta do everything myself!"? my guess is that many would be just as angry as they are today.

my point in all of this is that I do appreciate and respect the insights and beliefs of those who are left of center. . .sadly, by being so angry all of the time, others have a visceral reaction to the divisive tactics you have managed to lose election after election with.

i like a two party system with all those checks and balances that come from a faithful opposition.

okay, that's all i have to say on this subject so you can fire away all you want!

have a nice day, live long and prosper, and - as the hobbits would say - "may the hair on you feet never fall out"!

LWC wrote: "Clinton had the FEMA purring like a kitten under James Lee Witt...." Um, not so much. Read up on disaster response to Hurrican Floyd.

It is in the disaster plan for Louisian that FEMA and Nat. Guard response will not occur for 72 to 96 hours, ie. three or four days. It's the states' job to hold it down as best they can until then. That's what happened with Andrew, Floyd, Ivan, etc.

Louisiana was simply unprepared for a Cat5 storm. Period. I think Blanco and Nagin should be put up for criminal charges for their malfeasance. If the NYT report on Brown is true, then him too and the people who were supposed to vet him. But the primary failure is on the state and city.

I'm beyond tired with Lefty blogs ignoring or rewriting history, or just being plain ignorant of simple facts. (The utter collapse of the communications infrastructure in Louisiana might have played a role in the response problems! If your emergency communications buildings are all under water level, that might be a bad idea, too!) The glee and vengeance that so many on the Left are pursuing their vendetta against Bush with by using this diaster for political gain is also sickening. And I think America is noticing this.

Oh, and that whole "even Republicans are turning against Bush" meme strikes me as just that: a wedge point being driven into the issue by eager, disingenuous Democrats to attempt to pry off Bush supporters and then hopefully co-opt them into the Democratic voting column (since there's no where else to go).

Sorry. First, the Congressmen, Senators and local elected officials in Louisiana who will feel voter wrath are predominantly Democrats. Supposed "Bush-wrath" won't trickle down to Congressmen and Senators in other states, since locals won't look at their local elected officals like that.

And Bush ain't running in '08, so you're shit outta luck. If Guiliani runs, then all this is for nothing, since Rudy's rep will smoke all complaints about "can he handle it?"

Well, it's nice to see you think SOMEONE with the Bush administration MAY have been at fault.

The man simply refuses to take responsibility for anything, and you're enabling him.

go read the timeline again and tell me what the hell they could have done differently. A disaster of this magnitude requires a FEDERAL response; like everything else in this administration, they FAILED.

No amount of spin you try to put on this can change their abject failure.

hey, we may yet find some legitimate reasons to criticize the administrations response and legitimate criticism is fine but to label the administrations efforts an "abject failure" leaves out a lot of "nuance" and context. it's also "rushing to judgement".

it is nothing more or less than politicizing a tragedy but, then again, everything any government agency does is political. i'd just like to see a lot more fairness in this situation since it is a disaster of immense scope.

from todays new york times (no friend of the bush administration but, hey, even a broke watch is right twice a day!):

"As criticism of the response to Hurricane Katrina has mounted, one of the most pointed questions has been why more troops were not available more quickly to restore order and offer aid.

Interviews with officials in Washington and Louisiana show that as the situation grew worse, they were wrangling with questions of federal/state authority, weighing the realities of military logistics and perhaps talking past each other in the crisis.

To seize control of the mission, Mr. Bush would have had to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president in times of unrest to command active-duty forces into the states to perform law enforcement duties. But decision makers in Washington felt certain that Ms. Blanco would have resisted surrendering control, as Bush administration officials believe would have been required to deploy active-duty combat forces before law and order had been re-established. . . . . . . . .

But just as important to the administration were worries about the message that would have been sent by a president ousting a Southern governor of another party from command of her National Guard, according to administration, Pentagon and Justice Department officials.

"Can you imagine how it would have been perceived if a president of the United States of one party had pre-emptively taken from the female governor of another party the command and control of her forces, unless the security situation made it completely clear that she was unable to effectively execute her command authority and that lawlessness was the inevitable result?" asked one senior administration official, who spoke anonymously because the talks were confidential.

Officials in Louisiana agree that the governor would not have given up control over National Guard troops in her state as would have been required to send large numbers of active-duty soldiers into the area. But they also say they were desperate and would have welcomed assistance by active-duty soldiers."

___________________________

add that to the red cross website which confirms that they and the salvation army were nearby andready to deliver food and aid but were not allowed to do so because local government wanted to encourage people to leave. a laudible goal with disastrous consequences due to a total lack of preparation by local, state authorities.

an old watch in the deep end of a swimming pool is more accurate than a lot of what we're getting from some mainstream news sources at the moment.

the truth is a lot more complicated than the "bush is an idiot who hates minorities" view being put out there by howard dean, michael moore and like minded allies in the media in an effort to divide americans.

howard dean told an audience that race played a role in who was and who was not a hurricane victim. isn't new orleans 67% african american? african americans would have naturally made up - from a statistical point of view - most of the evacuees as wellas most of those left behind.

most african americans got out while those left behind were left behind because the mayor didn't use those school buses; they had food and sanitation issues because the governors office didn't want the red cross and salvation army to deliver supplies because they wanted everyone to leave.

my guess is that - in the long run - history will be a lot less forgiving of the local officials involved, and all of the finger pointing won't change the hearts and minds of most americans who - when presented with all of the facts - won't buy the notion that the president should be having to hold the hands of local officials every step of the way.

none of this would even be brought out if it weren't for the pretty ridiculous attacks on the president that are already backfiring.

from todays boston globe:

NFL kickoff show falls short at Gillette

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2005/09/09/nfl_kickoff_show_falls_short_at_gillette/". . . . . .while West did one tune, ''Heard 'Em Say." Yet it was disconcerting to hear his name booed loudly by Patriots fans who evidently didn't appreciate his nationally televised comment the other night on a Hurricane Katrina benefit that President Bush ''doesn't care about black people." The boos were thunderous and lasted for much of his number."

anywho, thank you for your kind response LWC! i know that you are a truly sincere person (hey, you sat thru most of my bands first set and we didn't start until nearly midnight...that deserves praise indeed!) with whom i simply disagree on some issues but, you know, people do read your blog and that - at the very least - opens up a dialogue. . .sort of!

in the immortal words of buckarroo bonzai "Nobody is nobody. Everyone has something to offer."

or, more profoundly, "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen atonce."

wait...the me from the future just called laughing hysterically...i/me called to quote criswell, "we are all interested in the future because that is where you and i will spend the rest of our lives and event such as these will affect us all in the future"....

Steve, I've never said the Bush administration wasn't at fault, nor that Federales shouldn't be held accountable, when it's time for accounting. This ain't that time.

What irks me about the Left's actions post-Katrina are that they smack much less of saving lives than of finding that elusive hook on which to catch, impugn and impeach the President.

Look at FEMA Director Brown. The Left was howling for his blood for days. Bush finally removes him and now you want to say that he's being protected. Which way is it Steve?

You strike me (on your blog) as someone who is grounded in reality even if you are a Democrat. ;-) A "first things first" kind of guy, if you will, unlike some in the Memphis blogosphere who appear to just be lunatic after all. The ones for whom bloodlust overwhelms all reason.

I agree that heads must roll over the response. But we'll disagree on which heads, how soon, and how bloodily, I'm sure. For now, let's just save lives. And when the time for accounting comes, let's be honest so we make sure only the proper heads roll. You'll find that consensus makes accounting more thorough.

Mike--the man who called me a hypocrite while making a one to one comparison of a typo on my blog and the mistakes made by Chertoff & Brown--has so much room to talk about wackos on the net.

The diehard Conserv-o-nuts have become vastly tragic clowns.

Oh well, in times like this, a good laugh is hard to come by.

And Thurbis: Your Dean comments are hysterical. Give me a man with some fire in his guts--I've got no use for the word-mincing, say-nothing slimewads that have grown so high in the esteem of "grownups."

Stick to the facts, don't rewrite to suit your agenda. I made a one-to-one comparison of your typo with Chertoff's verbal slip ("Louisiana is a city...."). I then noted that you have also had past troubles with your langauge, noting how you had to use two (or three, I forget) issues of the Flyer to retract or restate or correct what you wrote authoritatively in your story on the CA strikers.

And I would gladly invite any twenty random people to read my blog and yours side by side. I am thoroughly confident who will be seen as the whacko.